YouTube now supports 4K video

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Google has announced during VidCon 2010 that YouTube now supports video shot in 4096 x 3072, also known as 4K.

4K is huge. Google states that the perfect screen for 4K video is 25 feet, and that IMAX uses two 2K projectors as a comparison. On YouTube, 4K video will be classed as “Original” on the resolution menu instead of 4096p.

The video you see above is available to watch in 4K resolution, as are three others Google has uploaded. However, it looks as though you need to actually visit YouTube to access Original res, as embedding doesn’t list it as an option.

Expect the list of 4K resolution videos to remain quite short for a while. This isn’t video you can capture on a handheld camera so will be limited to the professionals. And unless you have a very good broadband connection it isn’t going to play that smoothly.